ripped. His shirt of mail had
been pierced at the left shoulder and blood glistened redly there. Some
had trickled down and lay in beads like rubies on the gleaming mail. His
face was streaked with sweat and dirt and his hair lay in wet clumps,
and he was breathing hard.

"What happened?" Merlin asked quickly. Arthur let out a laugh and his
eyes glowed fierce.

"A band of varlets tried to ambush me on my way here. Had I not been in
so great a hurry to keep my appointment with you I'd have brought you
some heads on Excalibur's point."

He held up the great sword and Wilbur turned faint at the sight of the
gore along its blade. He put his hand over his mouth and his eyes rolled
upward.

"Wipe that blade before this one perishes of fright," Merlin said
quickly. Then he became solicitous. "Are you sore wounded?"

"There were only ten," Arthur laughed. "They were too busy defending
their lives to do me much harm. Now, where is that drink you invited me
here for?"

"It will take a while to prepare," Merlin said. He busied himself with a
kettle and some jugs and powders.

Wilbur was turning a pale green from fright. He had to think of
something. Suddenly he turned to Arthur.

"You won't like this drink," he whispered urgently. "It may even poison
you!"

Arthur stared down at him. "Even so I needs must drink it. I have given
my word. A promise may not be broken."

Merlin was coming toward them now and Wilbur saw that the old man held
in his hand an instrument which looked like a surgeon's scalpel. He let
out a shriek of terror and would have run had his legs not been
paralyzed.

"What is this womanly fright?" Arthur asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I need his right eye to make the _Elixir of Caution_," Merlin
explained. He laid a claw on Wilbur's shoulder and it was like the hand
of doom.

"Yeeow!" Wilbur howled. He began to babble. "You lied to me! You said
you'd make me brave! False pretenses!"

He stopped abruptly. Merlin's hand had fallen from his shoulder. There
was a sudden silence that grew thick and ominous. Looking up fearfully,
Wilbur saw that Arthur had fixed Merlin with a hostile glare.

"Did you so promise?" Arthur demanded. He stood straight and regal.
"Answer me, and forget not I am your king."

Merlin's hands made feeble and apologetic gestures.

"What could I do?" he pleaded. "One like him is born seldom. I had
searched the centuries, and there was no more time."

He turned to Wilbur and hi